Coin columns · Mainnet Province
Stable (STABLE): Coin of a Layer 1 Built Around USDT Payments
Governance and staking coin of a USDT-first chain
STABLE is the governance and security coin of Stable, a layer-1 blockchain where fees are paid in Tether’s USDT. It arrived with the mainnet on 8 December 2025 and is designed not for payments but for securing the network and voting on its direction.
1. A new layer 1 for USDT payments
Stable is a layer-1 blockchain backed by Tether, issuer of USDT (a coin pegged to the dollar), and the exchange Bitfinex. Bitfinex and Hack VC led its seed round (early funding), Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is listed as an advisor, and Brian Mehler is chief executive.
STABLE launched on 8 December 2025 together with the mainnet and the Stable Foundation, an independent body described as supporting grants, community programs and governance participation. On the Crypto Nation map, STABLE stands in Mainnet Province, the area for standalone layer-1 chains, because it is classed as a layer-1 project’s coin.
2. Fees paid in USDT too
On Stable, USDT is the gas (fee) token and every transaction settles in USDT. On most chains you must first buy a separate coin such as ETH to pay fees; here, holding USDT is enough to send money. Fees are collected in USDT in a protocol vault, and dollar-denominated fees make costs easy for businesses to predict.
STABLE has a different job. It secures StableBFT, a delegated proof-of-stake consensus (validators backed by staked coins make blocks), and holders vote on matters such as protocol upgrades and reserve allocation. It is not needed for everyday use and is not a payment asset.
3. Token split and key dates
STABLE has a fixed supply of 100 billion, with no inflationary issuance planned. Ten percent went to the genesis distribution, 40% to developer grants and partnerships, and 25% each to the team and early investors, whose shares unlock after a one-year cliff over four years.
Before mainnet, a two-phase pre-deposit campaign let users deposit USDT in advance, drawing more than 24,000 wallets. At launch the project named Anchorage Digital, PayPal and Standard Chartered’s tokenization platform Libeara as partners and introduced a payments app, StablePay. Targeted uses include cross-border transfers, shop payments and corporate USDT settlement.
4. Things to know
Stable leans heavily on USDT, so Tether’s operations, reserves and regulatory environment affect it. Tether and its affiliates hold strong influence over the early direction, so it is far from fully decentralized, and large team and investor allocations raise concern about future unlocks. Because Tether can freeze USDT at specific addresses, that power can also reach the chain’s users.
As a new chain, its security record, the spread of its validators (delegated stake can pile up with a few large ones) and the real payment demand are still to be seen, and it must compete with other layer 1s aimed at stablecoin payments. Rules for stablecoins also keep changing.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.